Getting ready for winter projects and summer 2010.

Now that the season is over for sailing for those of us that are unfortunate enough not to be able to head south for the colder months, it's time to begin getting serious about working on winter projects.  As Pandora will be splashed again in mid March,the earliest that I have ever had my boat in the water, there really isn't time to waste in order to be sure that I am ready to go when the time comes on Monday, March 22nd. I have already lined up a spot for Pandora in March, right back where she is now waiting to be hauled.   These photos are from the Annapolis slip where Pandora has spent the last month and will spend March through the end of May next spring.

It's quite different when you head south of the New England waters that I am used to sailing in as private slips are not just for the wealthy, but quite abundant and attached to nearly every waterfront home.   On top of that, it seems that almost everyone on the water has at least one extra slip.  In this case, the owner that I rent from has 14 in his back yard.  And, he doesn't even have a boat of his own.

What a great view from the boat on our last evening prior to heading home last week.

How would you like to have this view from your back deck?

Or, how about this one? Not bad at all.

I head back to Annapolis in two weeks to move Pandora over to Port Annapolis Marina where her mast will be pulled so I can strip all the hardware off to prepare the mast to be painted.  It's peeling badly so what a difference it will make to how the boat looks. It will also be good to have the rig inspected as the boat is 10 years old now and I don't know how long it's been since the mast was last pulled and really gone over carefully.

I also plan on replacing the aft holding tank as the one that's there now is not in good shape at all.

I should also note that I am following a new blog by young circumnavigator Jessica Watson. She left from her home in New Zealand with the goal of being the youngest person to sail around the world unassisted and non stop.  She has a nice site and a fun blog.  Check her out at www.jessicawatson.com.au.  Her trip has created a good amount of contravercy as she is so young.  It seems that she is planning to put up a blog entry each day and they are fun to read.  Amazingly, within a few hours there are 300 comments on each new post, quite a large number.  I am jealous.

I should also note that our plans for sailing next summer are beginning to shape up.  Following our visit to the Chesapeake through May we will move Pandora to Mystic for June, on to Wickford again for the month of July and on to Maine and perhaps even a visit to the St. John River in the Bay of Fundy in Canada in August.    Lot's to think about and all the planning and boat projects will hopefully make the winter go quickly.